RV Travel Newsletter, May 14-20

Learn about RV camping, RV travel, RV news and much more. This newsletter, now in its 15th year of continuous publication, is funded primarily through advertising and voluntary subscription contributions from our readers. Thank you!

Issue 742 • Week of May 14-20, 2016

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I was away last week so did not have time to write an essay. Here is one from a few years ago that I liked. I hope you do, too.

My name is Charles but I go by Chuck. I took the name Chuck when I was a teenager. I thought it was better than Charles, which sounded too formal. For the last few decades I have questioned my decision. For example, I can’t think of any famous literary figures named Chuck. I wonder if we would be watching the movie “A Christmas Carol” every holiday season if the novel were written by Chuck Dickens and not Charles Dickens.

The name Chuck is the most common name found on bowling alley score cards. I have a newspaper cartoon that shows a sign at a butcher shop: “Chuck Steak: $1.49 a pound. Charles Steak, $5.49 a pound.”

My name is vaulted to its highest level of esteem when used in the term “Up Chuck.”

Still, I could have a name I liked less. Here are a few I found in a book called “Remarkable Names of Real People.” And no kidding, these are absolutely real.

See this little icon near the top right of this page?
Click it and you will be taken to a random article on this website. Click again and you’ll go to another. It’s fun. It’s random. It’s cool. It’s educational. It’s simply. . . wonderful!

Dish TV Discount Programfor Military and Veterans
DISHForMyRV.com is your partner for getting DISH HDTV in your RV. We offer the hardware solutions including a wide variety of portable satellite antenna solutions. Our specialized agents are experienced with RV setups and equipment and are knowledgeable in the DISH Pay As You Go programming options. This month we are honoring our Military Active Duty and Veterans with our new Military Discount program. Learn more.

Is this newsletter worth 10 cents to you?Our staff works hard to bring you an entertaining and informative newsletter every Saturday. The readers of the newsletter help make it possible with their voluntary subscriptions. Even a pledge of $5 a year would be appreciated — that’s less than 10 cents an issue! Many readers pledge more — $10 a year is less than 20 cents an issue! If you care to chip in, please know we will be very appreciative. Just contribute what you think is fair. Enter a voluntary subscription.

RVs & Electric Bikes – the perfect match!An Electric Bike is the perfect, simplest and most affordable way of sorting all the ‘challenges’ of RV’ing. Get around camp effortlessly, visit the sites or town nearby without unhooking or simply enjoy a fun ride with fellow campers! Click here to discover our electric bikesand get $100 off, free shipping & returns, and 0% financing on any new EVELO using the code RVTRAVEL during checkout!

Could it happen? “Viagra” Old Faithful?An $11 billion maintenance backlog has National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis proposing “an unprecedented level of corporate donations” to the national parks, according to the Washington Post. In return for their money, companies would get an unprecedented amount of exposure in those parks. So does this mean that you could soon visit Coors Rocky Mountain National Park? Read more.

What RV do you drive or tow?
Please send us a photo of your RV with a 150-200 word description of where and how you travel with it, and what you like (or don’t like) about it. (If you want, just send us your notes and we’ll put your story together for you.) If you have a photo of it in a scenic setting, that’s great. Be sure to include your name(s) and your hometown (unless you’re a full-timer). We’ll post them to RVtravel.com. Send to assistant editor Diane McGovern at Diane(at)RVtravel.com . Click here to see this week’s RV Travel Reader RVs.

This Week’s Spin and Win Contest
It’s time for another edition of Spin and Win — the only game show for RVers! It’s short, just two minutes. You don’t need to answer at a specific time of day. Answer anytime, and then again once a day through Tuesday if you want to increase your chances of winning. GREAT PRIZES!

Prognosticators with the U.S. Department of Energy foresee RVing fuel to remain at reasonable prices this year. Expect diesel to average $2.27 per gallon and gasoline at $2.21 through the summer. Next year? Diesel at $2.64 and gas up to $2.24.

Auction values for used RVs are hitting their seasonal plateau, reports Black Book. April motorhome prices inched up $44 to an average sale price of $35,168. Towable units were up $17 to $11,965. For both, this was a 0.1 percent increase from prices booked in March. Black Book attributes the flat prices to RV dealers having completed their seasonal stock-up of units for sale.

About a third of the 161 campsites at New York State’s Caroga Lake Campground will be closed for at least a portion of the summer season. Workers readying the campground for a scheduled May 20 opening found serious issues with the sewage system, and sites 87 through 129 won’t be available. Refunds will go out to those who reserved those sites.

Scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., may have discovered the RV boondocker’s dream battery. For roughly the same cost as a common lead-acid battery, the team successfully resolved problems with batteries based on zinc and manganese, which have limited charge cycles. Researchers have seemingly overcome the issue, developing a test battery that lasted 5,000 discharge/recharge cycles, while still maintaining 92 percent of its original capacity. Compared to a few hundred cycles for common lead-acid batteries, the difference is outrageous. No word on when – or if – commercial production of such a super-battery could take place.

Depending on your point of view, Minnesota has pulled the rug out from under spontaneous camping. Until this year, a quarter or more of campsites in the state parks were available on a first-come, first-served basis. Now all campsites in the system are on a reservation basis. State officials say too many “walk up” sites were left empty.

White River National Forest officials may shut down two popular campgrounds in Colorado. Avalanche and Elk Wallow campgrounds are high on the list of sites with deferred maintenance, and while the number of visitors to that national forest is up more than 40 percent since 2010, at the same time the federal budget for the area is down 60 percent since 2010.

When 88,000 residents of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, were chased out of their city by a huge wildfire, there were plenty of RVers among them. Now many are receiving help from the RV industry. Some campgrounds are offering discounts to these refugees, and others are simply allowing them to stay for free. The Canadian RV Dealers Association has donated $5,000 to help; some RV dealers are providing dry camping to those in need. RVers themselves have been helping – many taking their rigs up the highway toward Fort McMurray and passing out refreshments to those fleeing the area.

Last week we reported on a contentious meeting in Mesquite, Utah, where citizens universally gave a thumbs-down to a proposed RV park on the town’s West Pioneer Boulevard. Two Utah developers were seeking a zoning change that would have allowed them to build a 116-site park on 14 acres of land. After the negative reception, the developers have withdrawn their plans. A local real estate agent who was working with the developers now requests, “Please ask people to quit sending me and others hate mail.”

Last August, a Perry Park, Colo., family was ordered by their homeowners’ association to get their motorhome out of their driveway – it violated covenants. But William Loftland’s parents, the rig’s owners, appealed, saying that their son, who is autistic, needed to have the RV close at hand as they used it to calm him. They provided the association with documentation from William’s doctors asking for a medical accommodation, to no avail. No problem now – a federal decree has ordered the HOA to back off, and to pay the family for attorney fees.

America’s Largest RV Show coming Sept. 14–18, 2016See, compare and shop over 1300 new RVs from virtually every major manufacturer! Visit hundreds of vendors including campgrounds, accessories and services. Attend seminars covering subjects for the beginner to the seasoned RV enthusiast. Location is Hershey, PA. For more information, click here.

More News

We reported earlier that two Illinois state parks, Horseshoe Lake and Ramsey Lake, were being shut down for lack of electric service. Turns out the state hadn’t paid the bills due to a “budget impasse.” Now a candidate for the state legislature, Bob Romanik, has stepped forward and paid the bills so the parks can reopen. Was it an act of public shaming? It’s not clear, but whatever the reason, at least camping has been restored. It would be interesting to see how deep Romanik’s pockets are – a government spokesman says other state parks are also overdue on utility bills but so far haven’t had to be closed.

Photo: Pupfish; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Three “idiots running amok” have a $15,000 price on their heads after they broke into an environmentally sensitive area of Death Valley National Park (Nevada), littered the site with vomit, shotgun shells, beer cans, and underwear – and may have killed an extremely rare fish. Video recorded the illegal entry at Devils Hole, the home of about 100 Devils Hole Pupfish. One was found dead, and authorities are investigating to determine if the three men, believed to have been intoxicated, were responsible for the death.

Last February, RVer Daryl Tuttle of Veronia, Ore., climbed into his motorhome for a night’s rest, and never woke up again. A medical examiner determined Tuttle was felled by carbon monoxide gas. One of Daryl’s friends was so moved by the tragedy, that friend began a program that provides free carbon monoxide detectors to locals. Do you have a detector in your rig? Remember, these detectors have a limited life – check the “expiry” date on yours today.

Photo: tm-tm on flickr.com

A New Zealand RV rental company, Wicked Campers, is facing the wrath of a government entity that says the company’s rental rigs aren’t welcome in its campgrounds because they frequently bear “offensive slogans.” The Tasman District Council had considered banning Wicked’s rigs altogether, but now the Council says it may require any “lewd or sexist signage” be covered up or face a turn-away. The photo shows a “tame” example of a Wicked Campers slogan.

Tuscumbia, Ala., city councilors are thinking about getting into the RV park business. A proposal to float a bond measure to finance a 67-site RV park to the tune of $869,000 is being examined. Number-crunchers say if the park had a 30 percent occupancy rate, the city could expect to take in $211,000 a year; at 90 percent the take could be as high as $633,000, all based on a $30-per-night charge per site.

Timber Creek Campground in Idaho’s Lemhi County has been closed as an official search takes place and may reopen by Memorial Day. Authorities say they want to look the area over again for clues as to the disappearance of then-2-year-old DeOrr Kunz, Jr. The child vanished on a camping trip with his parents and a grandparent in July 2015. At the time, police felt relatives were not responsible for DeOrr’s disappearance but now say they suspect the family knows more than they’re telling.

Photo: SWNS

We’ve often warned RVers to know the height of their rigs to avoid difficult situations. Add to list: Know thy width. A holiday-goer in the village of St Ives in Cornwall County in the south of England learned this when he rented a small motorhome. Not small enough, evidently, when he tried to negotiate a narrow street in St Ives – made that much narrower by a scaffolding set up in the street. Stuck fast, the rig could only be extricated after the scaffolding was dismantled. Minor damage to rig; major damage to driver ego.

Sink cover in the way? Try this
Plastic RV sink covers are great for more working surface, but lousy when you need to access the sink itself. Consider whacking one or both of the sink covers in half to allow you some more real estate, but with “waterfront” access!

Keep the little-but-essential pieces of paper in one place
Papers, receipts, business cards swimming around in your rig? Find yourself a manila envelope, put the little bits inside, then stand the envelope up on end at the end of a handy cabinet.

Have an extra water heater drain plug on hand — just in case
Water heater got a plastic drain plug? For some strange reason, plastic and heat don’t always get along. Keeping a spare drain plug in your parts kit may save you a lot of frustration.

Which brand tire is best?
Roger Marble, RV tire expert, reports that many RVers on various forums wonder which brand tire is best, but he has never seen a response supported by any data based on direct apples-to-apples comparison of two brands of tires. However, he has contacts in the tire industry and could have an independent testing company run a comparison. All he needs is people to send him contributions — to the tune of $35,000 to get started! Learn more.

Do you vacuum your RV? Here’s an inexpensive and better way!
Every once in a long while, Rich “The Wanderman” finds something that makes cleaning easier in the RV. He used to lug a 120V electric upright vacuum into the RV and clean the carpets, but it didn’t do a thorough job and it was a pain. But then he found a micro 12V canister wet/dry vacuum! It’s really handy, especially to vacuum the carpet on his RV’s ceiling and walls(!). Read more.

It’s time to clean your fresh water tank
If your RV has been sitting “in mothballs” all winter and you’re readying it for travel season, don’t neglect the fresh water tank. It only takes about one mouthful of “yecchh!” water to convince you that water can go stale. What’s to do? Well, this is the same trick we recommend when you buy an RV prior to using it. Learn more.

How to save LP gas while dry camping
Dry-camping RVers tend to get paranoid about LP gas usage, so being efficient is important. The Truma AquaGo® instant water heater provides such efficiency. With it, a 20 lb. LP bottle can provide 20-minute showers for 30 days, so dry campers need not worry about using hot water when they need it. Learn more here.

Trailer hitching: Keep your rig where it belongsFor a “heart sinking into your stomach” experience, there’s nothing like looking in the rearview mirror and finding your travel trailer isn’t there. Every year innocent folks are killed by runaway trailers. How can you ensure your travel trailer trip comes off without a hitch? Start with safety at the hitch. Learn more.

How to watch YouTube videos using little bandwidthFor RVers on the road, getting online can be challenging, often a choice between finding a Wi-Fi hot spot or using their phone as a mobile hot spot — which can get costly watching data-hogging videos. In this short video, RVtravel.com editor Chuck Woodbury shows you how to watch YouTube videos without exhausting your data plan. Read more and watch the video.

Reminder: Tighten your (hidden) air conditioner boltsAs Federal Highway Administration funds get even tighter, the condition of America’s roads reflects this budgetary bulimia: Potholes and rough roads abound, and you and your RV are the recipients. Those washboard workouts are not only hard on your dentures, but your RV gets thoroughly rattled as well. One area not often thought about is the RV air conditioner, and the bolts that hold it in place can get shaken loose. Learn what to do with them.

RV ClubsHere are a couple of RV clubs from our extensive directory which you may be interested in:

Beaver Ambassador Club
“The Beaver Ambassador Club (BAC), a chapter of the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA), is an international motor home organization, located throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico, for owners of Beaver and other qualifying coaches.” Includes rallies, a forum with technical support, and more.

“RV Armor took care of our problems and did our roof replacement while we stayed in our RV. Their service gave us great value savings and came with a lifetime, unconditional, parts and labor warranty, which is also transferable.” —Happy customer Don Fredericks. Financing available! RV Armor: The Ultimate RV Roof.

Bumper sticker of the week
Seen on the back of a Jeep: “My Jeep won a war; your Honda mows my lawn!” Thanks to Robert Spencer!

Funny/clever business slogan
Ad for a plumbing business: “Let’s get this potty started” Thanks to Charlie Cowles!

Have you seen a funny bumper sticker or business slogan? Send it to Diane(at)RVtravel.com

Clean your RV… with beastly-good results!Your RV’s not your car, it’s your “beast.”
Your RV’s large surface area makes it a beast that collects more bugs, grit, grime, soot and industrial pollution than your car does. And it may have different surfaces of paint, fiberglass, vinyl and aluminum. Click on the video to watch Wade clean everything with Beast Wash as it cuts through slime and grime. You’ll see the difference. SALE! 5% off – Use code:RVTravel16when ordering.

The New TireTraker™ TT-500 with a Lifetime WarrantyThe new TireTraker™ TT-500 is the most innovative & user friendly TPMS on the market with an unprecedented “Lifetime Warranty”, the only TPMS company in the industry to do so. The TT-500 features a larger, easier to read display, continuous pressure & temperature monitoring, automatic update, & monitoring up to 22 tires on your motorhome, trailer & tow vehicle from 0-232 psi! Seven day per week sales & technical support & over 12 years of experience. List price (4 tires) $389. Our price only $289. SAVE $100! (Additional Sensors $35 each). Learn more or order. Read testimonials.

No more sewer smell in your RVNew roof siphon cap improves on old Shark Fin roof vents! No moving parts!
Are you fed up with smelling sewer odors in your RV? If so, the 360 Siphon is for you. Odors can only go one way with this new product — up and out of your RV, not inside the living area. If RV manufacturers really cared about their customers they’d install these instead of cheap vents that simply cover your sewer vent, allowing odors to stink up your rig. Click the video to see how this works. Easy installation. Fits all RVs. Learn more or order.

Ask the RV ShrinkWhat can we do about vandalized public property?

Dear RV Shrink:
One of the comments someone made under last week’s column caught my attention. We have not spent much time in campgrounds during the past 30 years. Now that we have retired, that has all changed. One thing we notice constantly is the disrespect to public property. We do not remember so much blatant graffiti, vandalism, defacing and littering. It is sad to think that so many people find pleasure in degrading infrastructure for no apparent reason. —Bewildered in Butte

RV Parts and Accessories
Give Dyers a try on your next purchase of RV parts or accessories. Large selection, great service, low prices and fast shipping. Visit our website.

RV Tech Tipsfrom Mark PolkKeep your RV locks working smoothly Twice a year take a can of graphite spray, insert the small tubing into the lock, and spray every lock on the RV. This should prevent any problems with the locks.

Mark Polk is the owner of RV Education 101, the premiere source of educational DVDs about buying, maintaining and using an RV. Learn more.

Latest fuel prices
Here are the latest U.S. average prices per gallon of gasoline and diesel fuel:Regular unleaded gasoline: $2.22 (on May 9) Change from week before: Down 2 cents; Change from year before: Down 47 centsDiesel: $2.27 (on May 9) Change from week before: No change; Change from year before: Down 61 cents

RV Travel Reader Pets
Do you travel with a pet? We’d love to introduce your pet(s) to fellow readers. Here’s what we need: a photo or two of Fido or Boots (or you with your pet) and a 150-200 word description of your furry friend(s) — name, breed, age, how long you have traveled together, what makes them special? Go ahead and brag about them if you wish! Do you have any tips for other RVing pet lovers about traveling with pets that you’ve learned along the way? Don’t forget to give us your name(s) and hometown. Send to Diane(at)RVtravel.com .

Split your 12-volt plug. . . and get two USB chargers!This incredibly handy device is specially made for power-hungry devices. Convert and increase your car cigarette lighter or RV 12 volt plug from 1 to 2 sockets plus get 2 USB ports, too! Wow, will this ever come in handy! Learn more or order at a discount.

The RV Kitchenwith Janet Groene

Mexicali QuicheParlez-vous Tex-Mex?

This is a melting pot nation, so we celebrate Italian food with a Mexican twist, Chinese stir-fry made with American garden vegetables, Japanese tempura in batter made with German beer, and Brazilian coffee with a shot of Irish whiskey. The basic idea of an eggy French quiche goes just right with the heat of Tex-Mex. Get the recipe.

Get relief from the heat with a cooling towelSummer heat is on the way. A Frogg Toggs Chilly Pad Evaporative Cooling Towel will cool you for hours. It can absorb 8 times its weight in water to provide longer evaporation times than regular towels. An internal polyester mesh reinforcing material allows it to dry you off while it cools you down. Simply moisten the towel, wring out excess, wrap it around your neck & it starts working. Available in multiple colors. Learn more or order.

Turning back the clock

RV television commercials from years past!

Take a trip back in time with this TV commercial from years ago — when shag carpet was the big deal, when the word slideout meant something you did getting out of the dinette and when a 30-amp hookup was science fiction. In this 30-second commercial two circus clowns follow a cyclone created by Ajax cleaner to its source in a Winnebago and its happy (motor)homemaker. Click the video to play it.

Clean your sewer hose without the mess! Sure, you can just fidget around with a garden hose, pushing it into your sewer hose and wiggling it around to clean it out. But with this Sewer Hose Rinser w/Shut-Off Valve from Camco it’s easier, simpler, and you won’t spray water or ??? all over yourself. Hey, you don’t want to leave “stuff” in your hose during storage, do you? Learn more or order from Amazon.com.

App of the Week

Travel Drive for phones and tabletsBy Chris Guld, GeeksOnTour.com
You probably know about travel drives for storing computer data files, photos, videos, music, etc. We call them by various names: thumb drives, flash drives, USB drives, and more. But we’ve always needed a computer with a USB port in order to use them. Now you can get a wireless drive that will work with your smartphone or tablet, Android or iOS! You can have all the power and all the storage capacity of a laptop computer, without the laptop!

LEARN ABOUT SMARTPHONES AND TABLETS
… every Sunday on a live webcast from Geeks On Tour. This week learn about location services on your smartphone: how to turn the feature on and what it does for you. And they will discuss an App of the Week. Watch live or archives of past programs.

The special offer for RV Travel readers is back! Become a member of Geeks on Tour and get a 20% discount. Click here.

Locate services at Interstate exitsThe 2016 Next Exit is the most complete USA Interstate highway exit directory ever published for every exit of major and most minor routes. Find what’s located at upcoming exits on your route — gas, food, lodging, camping, shopping, hospitals, Wal-Marts and much more. A best-seller year after year. Learn more or order.

Temperature gun is ‘essential equipment’ for many RVers!Just aim this non-contact IR temperature gun to measure the temperature of your refrigerator, tires, A/C output, or, heck, even your oven (and the list goes on). It turns on and begins reading the temperature in Celsius or Fahrenheit with one press of the trigger. A laser light aids in aiming, and can be turned on or off. Many RVers consider this essential equipment. Learn more or order at a huge discount.

Boondocking tipswith Bob Difley

Pick up trash and feel good
If it irritates you when you find a nice wooded boondocking campsite littered with trash, grit your teeth and walk the site to pick up all the plastic bags and soda cans before you set up camp. You will feel better and enjoy the site more. When you leave, the last thing to do is walk the site again and pick up what escaped you (I know you wouldn’t leave trash intentionally). Don’t forget to clean out unburnables from the fire pit. Maybe the next boondocker will appreciate finding a clean campsite and take the hint.

Easy way to level your RV! The RVtravel.com motorhome packs along two of these and, boy, are they handy! Camco’s RV Yellow Tri-Levelers are designed to raise the RV up to 3-7/8″ on any tire for a more level position. The lightweight levelers are durable and have a resin non-slip surface with a load capacity of 3,500 pounds. Learn more or order for a great price!

Gadgets and Gizmos

Shurhold system enables high-quality DIY RV detailingRV owners tired of paying $5–$7 a foot to have their rigs professionally cleaned can instead detail with quality DIY tools and products. They make the job fast and easy, while being significantly less expensive. Learn more.

Macerator pump makes RV dumping easier
Our best guess — and this is just a stab in the dark — is that there aren’t too many RVers that look forward to their visits to the dump station. There is a way, however, to ease the pain of dumpstationitis. FloJet’s portable RV Waste Pump System enables emptying your waste tanks with minimal hands-on (the ugly part) requirements. Read more.

Liquefy solid wastes in sewer holding tanks Happy Campers Treatment liquefies solid waste and household tissue. It’s a natural formula that’s environmentally friendly and biodegradable, with no formaldehyde or harsh chemicals. Basically, the good bacteria overtakes the bad bacteria to eliminate odor and accelerate the natural decomposition of waste. Because it is totally organic and odor free, you won’t be embarrassed by bad odors inside or when you dump. Learn more or order at Amazon.com.

Joke of the weekA few days after her husband’s death, a grieving widow accidentally received an email from a man waiting for his wife in Miami. The email read: “Just got checked in. Everything prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Sure is hot down here.”

Keep your food cool with this RV fridge fan Every RV refrigerator should have one of these! This small refrigerator fan from Valterra Products will help keep the food in your RV fridge cool and from spoiling. It cuts down initial cool-down time by 50 percent. Runs for more than 30 days on 2 D batteries. Don’t leave home without this! Learn more or order from Amazon.com.

Random RV Thought
If your RV neighbor is having a roaring campfire, it’s a good idea to pull in your awning. A hot ember could land on it and burn a hole. That’s no fun. No fun at all!

See this little icon near the top right of this page?
Click it and you will be taken to a random article on this website. Click again and you’ll go to another. It’s fun. It’s random. It’s cool. It’s educational. It’s simply. . . wonderful!

Trivia
William Faulkner once refused a dinner invitation from President Kennedy’s White House. “Why, that’s a hundred miles away,” Faulkner explained. “That’s a long way to go just to eat.”

Easily brew a single cup of coffee This is great for RVers! Brew a single cup of coffee without the high cost of an expensive coffee maker with the MyJo Single Cup Coffee Maker! Just fill reservoir with hot water from tea kettle, or heat water in a microwave. Assemble, place K-Cup pack in base, attach the water reservoir and pump. Watch the video for a short demonstration or learn more or order at a big discount.

Worth Pondering
“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” — John Steinbeck

Battery Organizer Never find yourself digging through drawers again when you need a new battery with the Battery Organizer. With specially designed slots, it keeps batteries organized and easy to find. Holds 12 AAA, 12 AA, 6 C and 4 D batteries — each size has its own slot making it easy to find the right size. Great for the RV, kitchen or garage. Holds up to 34 batteries. Learn more or order.

Readers’ Birthday and Anniversary Greetings

Happy Birthday!•May 15: To Kathy from Norm. Happy Birthday to my dear wife. I’ve celebrated 53 birthdays with you and hope for many more. I love you!
•May 18: To Betsy (Babe) from Your hubby. Have a great day, my love. I love you to the moon & back. Many more Happy Birthdays.
•May 19: To Judy from Larry. Happy birthday to a very special lady. Thanks for being my best friend and wife for 50 years, Love you always.

Happy (belated) Birthday
•May 1: To Patti from Bill Stitt. Happy birthday to my beautiful wife and fellow road warrior. Love you!
•May 4: To Barefootlady from pterodactyl. Happy Birthday to my wife. She is the greatest especially in our RV world. Now, most might think that she’s a great cook, and she is but I’m more apt to say, “Can she ever drive”.
•May 8: To Otto from Sandy. Happy Birthday Honey! I had a great 4 months of RVing with you.

Happy Anniversary!•May 17: To Carol from Bob. Happy Anniversary to the Love of my life!

ADVERTISE on RVtravel.com and/or in this newsletter. Contact Chuck Woodbury at Chuck(at)RVtravel.com.

About the RVtravel.com editor Chuck Woodbury has explored America by RV for nearly three decades. In the ’90s he published the quirky travel newspaper Out West, and was an “on the road” writer for the New York Times Syndicate. His book, “The Best from Out West” is available at Amazon.com. Woodbury’s RVing adventures have been profiled on ABC News, CNN, NBC’s Today Show, and in People Magazine, USA Today and in hundreds of newspapers. Nowadays, he lives near Seattle, where he drinks massive amounts of coffee and travels often in his motorhome and sometimes by plane when vast expanses of saltwater would turn his RV into a leaky submarine. He is the host of the Better Business Bureau DVD “Buying a Recreational Vehicle,” the definitive guide to purchasing an RV the right way (available in many public libraries).

Everything in this newsletter is true to the best of our knowledge. But we occasionally get something wrong. We’re just human! So don’t go spending $10,000 on something we said was good simply because we said so, or fixing something according to what we suggested (check with your own technician first). Maybe we made a mistake.

Tips and/or comments in this newsletter are those of the authors and may not reflect the views of RVtravel.com or this newsletter.

This website utilizes some advertising services. Sometimes we are paid if you click one of those links and purchase a product or service. Regardless of this potential revenue, unless stated otherwise, we only recommend products or services we believe provide value to our readers. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc . RVtravel.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. RVtravel.com includes links to other websites. We cannot control the content and/or privacy policies of those sites. Please be aware when you leave this newsletter or any other section of RVtravel.com to read the privacy statements of any of those websites that collect personally identifiable information. Our own privacy policy applies only to RVtravel.com and its affiliated blogs.

14 thoughts on “RV Travel Newsletter, May 14-20”

Chuck,
I had no trouble entering the contest for question one but when I took a look at question 2 to see if I knew the answer (which I didn’t) It would not let me go back to question one to submit that answer. I tried refreshing the page as well as backing out to the main page and even watching the video again and trying to reenter but to no avail…I sure could have used the Shell gasoline in my 1957 Chushman Eagle motor scooter!
Toim

Tom, I’m not sure what happened. We are still trying to figure out the game from our end. I know there has been some confusion. We’ll get it right, hopefully soon. Sorry about the inconvenience. — Chuck

Gaston J. Feeblebunny?! Laughed out loud.
I think there were similarly named Hogg sisters, but I think you’ve been rickedoodled about Ima and Ura.
On a different tack, you lamented the crowding of RV sites, but your success is partly to blame. Also blame the overpopulation crisis: my family used to pull into any state campground anytime during the day in the 50s and find a place. Try that now. Overpopulation. It’s not too few sites or too few highway lanes, it’s too many people and too many cars. Overpopulation. And my wife and I are about to retire to full-time RVing…..

Michael, you are absolutely correct. There are twice as many people camping these days as when I was growing up. It’s complicated. I plan to spend some time writing an essay where I make sense of the current state of camping, especially RV camping.

We’re sorry you’re having trouble entering the contest, Kermit. I just clicked on the link to watch the “how to” video, and also clicked on the links in the game show video to enter the contest, and they all worked fine for me, so I’m not sure what’s going on. If you’re clicking on links and it’s not taking you where you want to go, you might want to try copying the URL in the next sentence into the space at the top of your computer screen and see if it will take you directly to the contest that way. Or just click on this link (the URL/address for the contest): https://rvtravel.com/contest/

While in the contest I noticed that more than 1,500 people have entered it today, so it’s apparently working correctly the majority of the time. I don’t know what to tell you, but to apologize and ask you to try again, including what we mentioned in our response to Bev. Hopefully, you can get it to work. Good luck!

Sorry you’re having a problem entering the contest this week, Bev. Did you watch the video about how to enter? There’s a link to the “how to” video under Chuck’s essay in the newsletter. Or, there are two links to watch this week’s game show in the Spin and Win section of the newsletter, above the “Almost Breaking News” section. When you’re watching the game show video, towards the end, it shows an address on the screen to go to for the contest, or there’s a button in the upper right corner of the screen to click on to enter. Good luck!

Rvtravel.com has now become the premier newsletter of rv advertisements and infomercials. Unfortunately, it now takes much more time to wade thru the junk before finding anything useful or interesting. This might be considered as an “improvement”. It may result in higher revenue for you. But for me I no longer look forward to the new edition nearly as much as I used to. My 2 cents.

Hi, Deck,
Sorry for the late response to your comment. In reply, I’m going to just copy here a portion of Chuck’s reply to another reader a few days ago who complained about the ads, also:

“We need the ads. RVtravel is not a hobby, although I think all of us who work on it love what we do. I know there are many ads, but we try our best to keep them all of interest to RVers and do not accept those that we do not believe offer a good value or are of questionable integrity. Our staff needs to earn a living and ad revenue provides about three quarters of our revenue.

Five percent of our readers pitch in with “voluntary subscriptions,” and these readers’ support may one day make it possible for us to largely do away with advertising, which would suit me just fine! But when 19 out of 20 of our readers are unwilling to chip in for a subscription — and we say very clearly that even $5 a year per reader is all we need (which amounts to 10 cents an issue), we need advertising to pay our salaries and our other bills. It’s that or we get other jobs and our website or newsletter goes away.”

‘Nuff said. We hope you can understand our position and the need for ads.

There was a kid at a school that had a last name of Monk. His parents named him Chip! If that was me I’d have to slap my parents. Well known family in northern California with the last name or Horr. Harry Horr married Ima. Later in life after Harry had passed. She decided to change her name. To Ivy!

By Russ and Tiña De Maris Right up in the “neatest thing since sliced bread” category, for our family at least, are big “assist handles” that you can mount on the side of your RV. At the end of a long road day, or a long trail, being...

You’ve likely never seen a car like the new electric drive Spira, which debuted at the L.A. Auto Show. The enclosed three-wheel electric trike is steered with a tiller with an exterior that looks like a toy car covered in styrofoam. It carries two passengers (but just barely). The body is constructed...

Here’s what happens when a motorhome blows a tire and the driver doesn’t know how to react. If only he had watched this video and learned the right way to react. If so, his only...

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RVtravel.com and its weekly newsletter (now in its 16th year) are headquartered in Edmonds, Wash., just north of Seattle. Learn more about us including our history, our staff and our plans for the future.

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By Bob Difley Air Lift is expanding its load assist product line with the new LoadLifter 7500 XL series kits, which offer extreme load-leveling capabilities, a release from the company stated. The LoadLifter 7500 XL is now Air Lift’s heaviest-rated air spring kit, built to provide 7,500 pounds...

At the popular tourist attraction Hole in the Rock near Moab, Utah, keep your eyes open for this golfer — made almost entirely from golf club irons. The metal artwork was created by Lyle Nichols of Palisade, Colorado. Nichols...

Dear Gary, I am freaking out! The temperature got down to 25 last night and we have water in our water heater and one gallon of water and a chemical in our black tank. We did blow out the water lines. Should I be concerned about the tank and water heater freezing last night? We were not expecting the...

By Chris Dougherty Chris Dougherty is a certified RV technician. Here is a letter he received from a reader while he was serving as RVtravel.com’s technical editor. Dear Chris, Condensation forms inside both the wardrobe and the cabinets...

RV Electricity with Mike Sokol Dear Mike, Thank you for bringing the miswiring issue to light. I have been a licensed journeyman electrician for over ten years, but when a customer asked me to install an outside...

Dear RV Shrink: We have just started doing more remote camping or, as some of our friends call it, “boondocking.” My husband is much more comfortable with this arrangement than I am. We are not just parking...

Dear Gary, I am freaking out! The temperature got down to 25 last night and we have water in our water heater and one gallon of water and a chemical in our black tank. We did blow out the water lines. Should I be concerned about the tank and water heater freezing last night? We were not expecting the...

By Bob Difley Air Lift is expanding its load assist product line with the new LoadLifter 7500 XL series kits, which offer extreme load-leveling capabilities, a release from the company stated. The LoadLifter 7500 XL is now Air...

You’ve likely never seen a car like the new electric drive Spira, which debuted at the L.A. Auto Show. The enclosed three-wheel electric trike is steered with a tiller with an exterior that looks like a toy car covered in styrofoam. It carries two passengers (but just barely). The body is constructed of recyclable light foam, fiberglass and plastic. Top speed is 75 mph....

Here’s what happens when a motorhome blows a tire and the driver doesn’t know how to react. If only he had watched this video and learned the right way to react. If so, his only problem would likely...

Dear Gary, I am freaking out! The temperature got down to 25 last night and we have water in our water heater and one gallon of water and a chemical in our black tank. We did blow out the water lines. Should I be concerned about the...

That diesel motorhome or truck you’re driving may be a dinosaur in the making. The leaders of four major cities, from Europe to Central America, are planning to ban all diesel vehicles by the middle of the next decade, the BBC reported. Time will tell if the...

By Russ and Tiña De Maris Are you a solo RVer? Here’s a “stop and ponder issue” for you. Every year thousands of RVers descend on the desert southwest, looking forward to a great time of exploration and relaxation. And every year, reports a representative of the Quartzsite, Arizona,...

By Russ and Tiña De Maris For full-timers, keeping an eye on the budget can be critical to your lifestyle. When boondocking, your heating source choices are limited – gas prevails. But if you’re calling...

By Chuck Woodbury I smell cows. It’s a gorgeous day in Medford, Oregon. I’m typing at my picnic table. The sun is warming me all over. I am happiest when the sun shines. It’s been raining...

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